The sermon text provided below is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

Open your copy of God’s word as we continue our study and consideration of the book of the
prophet Isaiah we are in Isaiah chapter 10 and we will consider verses 5 through 19
this section of Isaiah chapter 10 and you’ll find that on page 682 in your
view Bible if you’d like to follow along in your view Bible. Dear friends this is the
word of God, hear it with reverence and awe.
Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff in their hands is my fury. Against
the godless nation I send him and against the people of my wrath I command
him to take spoil and seize plunder and to tread them down like the mire of the
streets. But he does not so intend and his heart does not so think but it is in
his heart to destroy and to cut off nations not a few. For he says, are not
my commanders all kings? Is not Calno like Harkomish? Is not Hameth like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus? As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols
whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I
not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images? When
the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he
will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the
boastful look in his eyes. For he says, by the strength of my hand I have done it
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding, I remove the boundaries of
peoples and plunder their treasures like a bull I bring down loads who sit on
thrones. My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples and as one
gathers eggs that have been forsaken so I have gathered all the earth and there
was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped. Shall the axe boast
over him who hews with it? Or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it or as if a staff should lift him who
is not wood. Therefore the Lord God of hosts will send wasting sickness among
his stout warriors and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning
of fire. The light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame and it
will burn and devour his thorns and briars in one day. The glory of his
forest and of his fruitful land the Lord will destroy both soul and body and it
will be as when a sick man wastes away. The remnants of the trees of his forest
will be so few that a child can write them down. The grass withers and the
flower fades but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the preaching of his word.
Our gracious Lord and Father in heaven we thank you and praise you for the grace of
your spirit that spirit who has breathed out the scriptures. We pray oh Lord that
by your spirit you would illuminate our minds and open our hearts to behold
wondrous things from your word this morning. We ask that you would help us to
hear and receive that which the Spirit is speaking in this portion of your God
breathed in errant infallible word and we would once again ask that you would
set a guard over my lips that I your unworthy servant may only speak forth
that which is clear that which is faithful to your word. We pray all these
things Heavenly Father in Jesus name and all of God’s people said amen.
Title of my sermon this morning is judgment against the rod of God’s anger and there are a number of
key words that you can be listening for in my sermon today the words providence
rod anger arrogance judgment and mercy and there are sermon outlines in the
foyer that you can use to follow along with my sermon today. Well my dear friends I’m going to ask you a
question how often in your daily conversation do you find yourself using
the word providence? Is that a common word that you employ in your daily
conversations with your husband your wife co-workers your friends and so
forth? Well my suspicion is that you probably don’t use that term all too
often at least not in your everyday conversations at least outside of church
contexts and when you hear the term providence what is the first thing that
comes to your mind? I suspect that if I were to ask that question to the average
man or woman on the street today perhaps many would mention the city of providence
you know the capital city of the state of Rhode Island but they probably would
not be thinking of the theological term providence. Now I bring all of this up my
friends because the word providence which is such an important and wonderful
term in our theological vocabulary this term is very rarely used today and I
think it’s very rarely used even among professing by the believing Christians
and this is really the shangier ones because the word providence highlights a
significant biblical truth about the way God rules and governs not only the
created material universe but also the way that the Lord sovereignly rules and
governs the nations and the peoples of humanity. It is a term that pulsates with
theological depth and doctrinal richness. It is a term that we would do well to
recover and recapture in our common Christian vocabulary. Now in terms of the
meaning of providence I think our shorter catechism defines it very well
does a wonderful it offers a wonderful Bible-based definition of God’s works
of providence in answer to question number 11. I know some of you know the
answer to that question. The question of course is what are God’s works of
providence and the Bible-based answer to that question is God’s works of
providence are his most holy wise and powerful preserving and governing all
his creatures and all their actions. Think about the breadth and the depth of
that answer. But this definition raises some thorny questions. For example if as
our catechism in line with scripture teaches if in his providence God
preserves and governs all of his creatures and all of their actions does
this include the sinful and wicked actions of evil men and of godless pagan
nations including men and nations that seek to persecute and harm God’s
professed people. Now let’s be clear God’s word the Bible makes it abundantly
clear that God is neither the author nor approver of sin. The Bible also clearly
teaches that man is morally responsible for his sin and his wicked actions.
But if this is the case if it is the case that man is responsible for his
action how do we harmonize the absolute righteousness and goodness of God and
the reality of his total sovereignty and his all-embracing providence how do we
harmonize those biblical truths with the equally biblical truths that man has
genuine human responsibility for God and exercises free moral
agency. Well dear ones there are many ways to answer that question and while
many things could be said in responding to these deep and profound questions
indeed these mysteries our passage for this Lord’s Day morning helps to shed
some very bright lights on the way God exercises his sovereign providence over
wicked men and over wicked nations and so let us now turn our attention to this
profound passage of God’s Holy Word found in Isaiah 10 verses 5 through 19.
And let me again remind us of the context of this passage. This passage we
find this passage within a broader section of judgment oracles and the
previous section that we considered a couple Lord’s Days ago in chapter 9 verse
8 through chapter 10 verse 4 is also an oracle of judgment and it’s an oracle
of judgment against the northern kingdom of Israel. The northern kingdom of
Israel is sometimes designated as Ephraim and northern Israel’s capital city
Samaria. That particular judgment oracle anticipates the decisive judgment that
God would bring against the northern kingdom in the destruction and the exile
that he visited upon Samaria and the northern kingdom by the Assyrian Empire
and that destruction and exile took place around 722 BC. The Lord Yahweh you see
had used Assyria as the rod of his wrath the rod of his anger against faithless
covenant-breaking Israel. But in our passage for today the Lord turns his
attention from the judgment that he is pouring out upon the northern kingdom
through through Assyria and now he turns our attention to Assyria itself and
Assyria is here described as God’s rod and that brings me to my first point.
Let’s first of all consider Assyria as the rod of God’s anger. Assyria as the
rod of God’s anger. Again I direct your attention first of all to verses five
and six. In verse five the Holy Spirit through Isaiah says woe, woe to Assyria.
What is that term woe? It’s a very emotive term. What does it convey? It
is a judgment term. It is a term of curse. God pronounces a curse and this term
shows us once again that we have here another judgment oracle. So this
continues the judgment theme of this overall section of Isaiah and notice
how the Lord describes Assyria. Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff
in their hands is my fury. Against the godless nation I send him and against
the people of my wrath I command him to take spoil and seize plunder and to
tread them down like the mire of the streets. Again Assyria is described as
God’s rod, his staff. Assyria you see was an instrument in the hand of Yahweh the
Lord to strike his faithless people in judgment and chastisement. That’s the
point that the Lord is making. Though the Assyrians were wicked and godless
people and that comes out very clearly in our passage for today, nevertheless
God uses them to judge and chastise his faithless people. And he in verse six he
says that Assyria is sent against a godless nation. Against a godless nation
I send him and against the people of my wrath. So this godless nation is described
as the people of my wrath. Who’s he talking about there? Well he’s talking
there about Israel. These descriptions are referring not to a pagan idol
worshipping nation but well although Israel at the time they were they had
fallen away from the Lord and had broken his covenant and were indeed going after
idols worshipping multiple idols and not just worshipping the Lord. Nevertheless they were still
his professed covenant people and yet God describes them as a godless nation
the people of my wrath. These descriptions are referring to God’s
faithless covenant-breaking unbelieving people. People who should have known
better. It’s not referring to Gentile methodologists. So Assyria again would be
God’s instrument of judgment to plunder and destroy the faithless among Israel.
Let’s sit down to verse 15. We get further insight into Assyria’s role here.
And notice how God describes Assyria here. He says, shall the axe boast over him who
hews with it or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it as if a rod
should wield him who lifts it or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood.
Here the Lord compares Assyria and its king to an axe, a saw, a rod, and a staff.
In other words, instruments wielded by the Lord’s sovereign hand to accomplish
his purposes. In this case, his purposes of judgment and chest ties. This passage
underscores the truth, my friends, of Yahweh’s absolute sovereignty over all
the nations of mankind. Not merely over his covenant nation, Israel, but over
pagan idol-worshipping nations which do not acknowledge him as the one true and
living God and which treat his people with hostility as their enemies. This
passage also gives us some insight into the mysterious providence of God. A God
who sometimes chooses to use the wicked to judge the wicked. This is an important
biblical principle, friends. If you’re going to understand the mysterious ways
of God with man, God is so awesome and powerful and glorious and mysterious in
his works of providence that he’s able to use the wicked to judge the wicked.
And we see him doing that here. Our sovereign God is able to use even the
wicked to accomplish his ultimately good purpose. As the saying goes, even Satan is
God’s Satan. Not that God is to be blamed for Satan’s evil or wickedness, but that
even Satan can only do his work by the sovereign permission of God. You see
that, for example, in the book of Job. Here the Lord is shown to use the wicked
empire of Assyria and its arrogant godless king, probably sin king Sennacherib, as his
instruments to punish and chasten his wicked, faithless, covenant-breaking people.
And yet, and yet, as we will see, while God uses godless Assyria as his rod to
smite his sinning people, because of the pride and evil motivations of Assyria
and her king, in the end, God will bring judgment even against the rod of his anger.
He will use Assyria as his rod of judgment and chastisement against his
faithless people, but then he will turn around and turn his judgment focus upon
Assyria itself, even though Assyria had been used by God as the rod of his anger.
Beloved, in his sovereign providence, our great and awesome God is able to rule
and to overrule the wickedness of man, to rule it in such a way that, and overrule
it in such a way that it works towards his ultimately good purpose. We see that
in numerous instances in the scriptures. For example, consider the situation with
the patriarch Joseph. Remember Joseph? Sold by his brothers out of their envy,
their evil, wicked envy. They sell him into slavery, into Egypt, and yet God uses their
evil to bring him, to bring Joseph to Egypt, and eventually to raise him up to be a
savior figure, as God uses Joseph to save that region from the famine that
afflicted them at that time. Turn, for example, to Genesis chapter 50, and let me
just read verses 15 through 21. Genesis chapter 50, verses 15 through 21. After
Jacob, Joseph’s father passes away, Joseph’s brothers, who are now in Egypt, they’re
worried that, oh boy, we’re in trouble. Joseph’s gonna remember the evil that we
did to him, and he’s gonna take vengeance upon us. So we read this. It says, when
Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, it may be that Joseph
will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him. They
acknowledged their evil. God has worked repentance and tenderness in their hearts
for all the wickedness they hid. But it goes on to say, so they sent a message to
Joseph saying, your father gave this command before he died. Say to Joseph,
please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin because they did
evil to you. And now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God
of your father. How does Joseph react? You don’t deserve forgiveness. After what you did to me, you stole my life away from me. You stole me in Egypt. That’s not how Joseph responds. It says, Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, Behold, we are your servants. But Joseph, notice what Joseph says here.
Joseph said to them, Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? He acknowledges that though you did evil against me, this was all part of God’s sovereign plan. Am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear, I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Notice what he says again in verse 20. As for you, you meant evil. You meant for evil. What they did was indeed vile and evil. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. God sovereignly overruled their evil for not only Joseph’s, but many people’s ultimate good. Praise be to God.
But of course, the ultimate illustration of God using evil men to accomplish a higher good is nothing less than the murder, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The betrayal and murder of Jesus was the worst evil, the worst sin that has ever been committed, and yet God used that for the redemption of his people. Turn with me, if you would, to Acts chapter 2. Let me read verses 22 to 24 there.
This is Peter’s Pentecost sermon, and in the midst of declaring the gospel on the day of Pentecost to those who had gathered round, he says this, he says,
Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
God raised him up, loosing the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
There in verse 23, you have in one verse the affirmation of God’s absolute sovereignty and his overruling providence on the one hand, and the complete moral accountability and responsibility of those who crucified Jesus.
He says, Jesus was delivered up, he was delivered up to be crucified, why? Well, according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. God decreed that the Messiah Jesus would be crucified, crucified by the hands of lawless men.
He says, you crucified him by the hands of lawless men. What they did in crucifying him was evil, it was wicked, it was lawless, and they are held accountable for it, and yet God had planned to overrule their evil for the salvation, the redemption of God’s elect.
Beloved, in light of all of this, let us trust in the wisdom of God’s ways, even if we don’t fully understand them, and let us realize that while evil may prevail, and they seem to have the upper hand, the only reason that evil is permitted to occur is because God has an ultimately good purpose for it,
and he will ultimately direct it and use it in the end for his ultimate glory and for the ultimate good of his people, and that’s why the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 11 sets the context for us understanding or praising him, praising the Lord for his wisdom.
Let me just read Romans 11, 33 to 36, in light of all of this, the mysterious sovereign providence of God, we respond with the Apostle Paul, oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways,
for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid, for from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be the glory forever. Amen.
And so we see, we see, dear ones, that Assyria, the rod of God’s anger, was ultimately overruled for the glory of God for his good and holy purposes, but we also notice in this passage the foolish arrogance of God’s rod, and that’s the second point of your outline.
Let us consider next the foolish arrogance of God’s rod, that rod, the Assyria and the Assyrian king, it says in verse 7, but he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think, in other words, God is using him as his instrument of chastisement and judgment against his faithless people,
but that’s not what, that’s not what Sennacherib intends, that’s not what the Assyrian army intends, what do they intend to do? They intend to conquer and make a great name for themselves, their motives are evil, their motives are cruel and wicked, and therefore God will judge them for their motives,
even though God has used them to carry out his purpose of destruction and judgment, God will nevertheless judge them for their wicked, godless motivations, and then it goes on to say, in verse 8, it goes on to say, for he says, are not my kings, are not my commanders all kings?
What does that mean? If the commanders of Assyria are equivalent to kings in the estimation of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, then what is the implication? The implication is that the Assyrian king is himself the great king, indeed the king of kings,
you see how Sennacherib’s utter arrogance, his braggadocia, his pride comes pulsating out here in this passage, what arrogance, what megalomania, what an egomaniac, and then we see that megalomania, that arrogance playing out in the way that he describes his conquest,
it says, is not Caldo like Parkimish, is not Hamath like Arpad, is not Samaria like Damascus, as my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?
Here a number of kingdoms are listed that had been conquered by Assyria. Now Samaria is also mentioned, and this was probably written and recorded prior to the destruction of Samaria, but nevertheless we need to remember that Isaiah was a prophet, inspired, he was carried along by the Holy Spirit, so speaking by the Spirit of God, speaking prophetically, Samaria is spoken of as if it had already been conquered.
The implication is that the king of Assyria is basically saying, well if I was able to conquer all of these other kingdoms and there are many idols, there are many gods, we’re not able to deliver them out of my hand, then what makes you think, oh Jerusalem, that your idols, that your god or gods will protect you from my conquest?
E.J. Young points out that it’s an interesting enumeration that he gives of these various kingdoms that had been conquered. It’s an interesting enumeration, one that seems to come closer and closer to Jerusalem. It begins with the most distant and most northern places and concludes with the nearest and most southern.
So the synachron says, it’s not Kalmo, Kalmo’s further to the north, like Carchemish, and then it gets a little closer, Hamath, like Arpad, Samaria, like Damascus. In other words, I’m coming to get you, I’m coming to get you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s his most.
Then notice verse 12, when the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.
The synachron thinks that he’s running the show here. He thinks that he’s the one in charge, that he sets the agenda, and the Lord says, I’ll deal with you when I’m done doing my work upon Mount Zion and Jerusalem, done doing my work of judgment and chastisement against my faithless people.
The work of the Lord here is his work of chastening the people of the southern kingdom of Judah. In this scene from the language that he uses, he describes Mount Zion and the capital city of the southern kingdom of Judah, namely Jerusalem.
And the ultimate goal, if you read broader in Isaiah, you continue reading on at the end of this chapter, the ultimate goal is their restoration. Look down at chapter 10, verse 20.
It says, In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel in truth.
That pictures restoration. There will be judgment, there will be chastisement, but then there will be restoration. And then skip down to chapter 10, verses 24 and 25.
It says, Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, O my people who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did, for in a very little while my fury will come to an end and my anger will be directed to their destruction.
God’s doing a work of chastisement. He’s doing a work of judgment among his people. Judgment begins, after all, with the house of the Lord. But after that, he will turn his judgment focus upon the rod of his wrath, the nation of Assyria.
Now, in verses 13 and 14, it goes on to say, for he says, here he’s describing the boisterousness of Sinakra. He says, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding.
I remove the boundaries of people and plunder their treasures, like a bolt I bring down those who sit on thrones. My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples, and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken.
So I have gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved away or opened its mouth or shrugged.
Here we have a sampling of the boastful arrogance of the Assyrian king. Did you notice the number of times he narcissistically refers to himself in this passage? I’ve done this. This is my doing, i.e. my.
Then verse 14, he goes on to say, he says, in verse 14, as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken. So I have gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved away or opened the mouth or shrugged.
Just as the nest of abandoned eggs can easily be gathered without protest from the mother bird, so the king of Assyria is saying here that he has gathered up conquered peoples in order to subjugate them to his kingdom.
He’s done so with ease, without any kind of cry of protest. That’s obviously a little bit of monarchical hyperbole there, but nevertheless, he’s saying, I overpowered them all. They offered me no resistance.
Then we get to the verse that is probably the hub, the center of this passage, verse 15. Shall the ax boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it, as if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood?
Again, this verse is arguably the central hub of this passage, the central verse in this passage.
For all of this arrogant braggadocia, the proud king of Assyria does not realize that he is only a tool in the hand of the Almighty God.
He is only merely an instrument that the Lord has used to carry out his soft practices, just as a man might use an axe to chop some firewood, or just as a man who is a carpenter might use a saw to shape some boards for use in building a piece of furniture.
So Yahweh, the God of Israel, used Assyria as his instrument to punish and discipline his faithless people.
That is the only reason why Assyria and its king had any power, and yet they did not realize that. They thought their power was from themselves.
They did not realize that they were but mere, that they were merely instruments in the hands of the Lord.
There’s many takeaways, points of application that we can take from this, but first of all, friends, here we witness the utter folly of a godless worldview, a worldview that boasts of self.
There’s a lot of that today, isn’t there? You’re your own man, or your own woman. You’ve got to look out for number one, right?
You’ve got to do your own thing. Chart your own course. You are the master of your faith. You are the master of your own soul, the captain of your destiny.
But the truth is, brothers and sisters, we are not the masters of our faith. We are not the captains of our souls. Rather, we are all subject to the Lord’s providence.
Let me ask you, how many of you chose your parents? How many of you chose to be born to the parents you were born to?
Raise your hand. How many of you chose to be born either as a boy or as a girl?
How many of you chose when you would be born, where you would be born, under what circumstances you were born?
The answer is none of us. Now, we all have decisions and significant choices that we can make within the boundaries that God has placed us in.
But the point is, we are all subject to the Lord’s sovereign providence. We are not ultimately the captains of our souls, the masters of our faith.
God is sovereign, and Jesus is Lord, and let us live our lives in the light of that truth.
Another important lesson here is that even though God in his providence uses the wicked to accomplish his own ultimately good purposes, they remain responsible for their wickedness and accountable to the Lord.
And so we see in this passage the overarching, overruling sovereign providence of God and the responsibility of Sennacherib and the Assyrians for their wickedness.
Those two truths are not contradictory. They work together.
And that brings me to my final point as we consider the final closing section of this passage.
We see here in verses 16 through 19 the Lord’s fiery judgment against his rod. The Lord’s fiery judgment against his rod.
It says, therefore, the Lord God of hosts, now that’s significant. He is the Lord God of what? Of hosts.
The heavenly hosts. The Lord is sovereign over all the heavenly hosts, whether that refers to the angelic hosts or whether that refers to the stars and galaxies in the sky.
The Lord is sovereign over them. He is the ultimate sovereign, and this should strike fear in the hearts of the arrogant who boast themselves over the Lord.
The Lord God of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire.
The light of Israel will become a fire. Remember the Bible says that our God is a consuming fire.
Jesus is the light of the world, and for those of us who believe, that light is saving light. It’s glorious light. It’s the light of mercy.
But for those who reject the Lord and his light, he is a consuming fire, a fire of wrath against the unbelievers.
Under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. The light of Israel will become a fire and his holy one a flame.
And it will burn and devour his thorns and briars in one day. The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the Lord will destroy both soul and body.
And it will be as when a sick man wastes away. The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can ripen them.
We’ve seen not too long ago in the news what devastation can be caused by forest fires and wildfires.
Friends, Yahweh pronounces the judgment that he will bring against Assyria by using two images here in verse 16, the image of wasting sickness and the image of a burning.
The wasting sickness image contrasts the weakness and helplessness of an ill man with a consumptive disease, contrasts that with the stout healthy warriors of Assyria’s army.
The Assyrian army was something to fear. The Assyrian soldier was mighty, was strong. They were the perfect picture of health and strength.
They were very well trained. They were also known for their extreme brutality and cruelty. You didn’t want to mess with an Assyrian soldier.
And the Assyrian army was greatly feared in the ancient world.
But the point here, my friends, through these images of the wasting sickness and the fire, the burning, the point is that a complete change will come over the Assyrian army.
The huge Assyrian army filled with strong and stout warriors will be so completely decimated that it can be compared to a sick man with a consumptive illness.
And the imagery of fire burning up thorns and briars points to the complete destruction of Assyria’s forces.
Like a large forest that is completely burned up except for a small remnant of trees, so the Assyrian forces will be utterly decimated.
Friends, as we close our time in the work today, you’ve heard the saying, pride goes before a fall.
That is a biblical principle, and it is a principle that played out in redemptive history with respect to the Lord’s dealings with the wicked kingdom of Assyria and its wicked king.
Pride goes before a fall, and sooner or later God will judge the arrogant who refuse to repent.
Let us be warned against following the footsteps of the boastful king of Assyria.
Let us instead humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and recognize his sovereignty over us.
But I want you as we close our time today, this has been a judgment oracle that thunders forth the holy and righteous wrath of God against the wicked.
And yet, my friends, even though this is a judgment oracle, and even though it is saturated with the theme of God’s anger and righteous wrath,
yet notice that even in this judgment oracle, it ends with a hint of mercy, for even in the case of Assyria, God preserves a remnant.
It’s a very tiny hint of mercy, but it’s there nonetheless.
Look at verse 19, the remnant of the trees of his force will be so few that a child can write them down.
Again, this just further highlights how utterly decimated and destroyed the kingdom of Assyria and its army would be.
Nevertheless, there is still a remnant preserved.
This leads us to consider a later prophecy that is revealed to Isaiah in chapter 19, verses 23 to 25.
And obviously we don’t have time to consider this passage in depth at this point, but let me just read that.
So you turn to Isaiah 19, let me read verses 23 to 25.
It says this.
This is Isaiah prophetically looking into the future and seeing the end gathering of the Gentiles.
In that day, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria.
And why will they come into one another’s territory?
Will it be to consolidate their forces to attack God’s people?
No.
The Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth.
Egypt and Assyria were, they were prototypes of the enemies of God.
The Egyptians had enslaved the Israelites, remember?
And the Assyrians had attacked Israel and exiled them.
So they were pictures of the enemies of God.
But here, they along with Israel are described as the people of God and a blessing in the midst of the earth.
Verse 25, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying,
Bless the Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, my inheritance.
His prophecy anticipates the new covenant messianic in-gathering of the Gentile nations, as represented by Egypt and Assyria.
My friends, in God’s mysterious providence, his historical judgments in Old Testament times against Gentile pagan nations, such as the Assyrians,
somehow that paves the way for the promised Messiah, Jesus, the Son of God, to bring God’s saving grace and covenant mercies beyond the borders of Israel and onto the Gentile nations through the spread of the gospel.
Historically speaking, Yahweh’s righteous wrath somehow cleared the way for mercy to be manifested in the fullness of time, to borrow from Paul’s terminology in Galatians chapter 4.
And now that Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, has come and has died for the sins of the world, that is to say, has died for Jews and Gentiles alike, who has redeemed sinners, redeemed his people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
now that that has happened, even those descended from the wicked ancient Assyrians can become spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham, and it is all through God’s sovereign, amazing grace.
Isn’t God’s providence amazing? And isn’t it wonderful that in wrath he remembers mercy?
Dear listener, have you tasted the goodness and mercy of the Lord? Humble yourself before the Lord and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith today.
And then you will not have to fear the wrath that is spoken of in this passage, for the Lord through Christ will forgive your sins and give you the gift of eternal life.
May God, in his mercy, see to it that you may be so blessed.
Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for your divine providence, which is so mysterious. How inscrutable are your ways.
And yet, Lord, we know that we are responsible before you.
And so, Lord, give us the grace to humble ourselves before you to recognize that we are not the captains of our own souls or the masters of our own faith, but that Jesus is Lord.
And Lord Jesus, we do receive and rest upon you as our Lord and Savior, and we ask that you would give us the grace to live lives of grateful obedience to you.
In your name we pray, all of God’s people say, Amen.